fiddlehead
/ˈfɪdəlˌhɛd/noun
fiddlehead is a noun meaning “The scroll-shaped decoration at the tip of a fiddle” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled F-I-D-D-L-E-H-E-A-D, and it appears about once in every 28 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data). The plural of fiddlehead is fiddleheads.
What does fiddlehead mean?
noun
- 1
The scroll-shaped decoration at the tip of a fiddle.
- 2
A similar scroll-shaped ornament on a ship's bow.
- 3
The furled fronds of a young fern, sometimes harvested for food consumption.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you pronounce fiddlehead?
- US /ˈfɪdəlˌhɛd/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Flame,_not_lame-fiddlehead.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of fiddlehead
- fiddleheads plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How common is fiddlehead?
Fiddlehead appears about once in every 28 million words in written English, the 159,707th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Fiddlehead in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense food:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | crosse de fougère, tête-de-violon |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does fiddlehead come from?
From fiddle + head.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).